Satisfied
by Quell5
Summary: He was the apple of his father's eye. But that was never enough to be satisfactory. Draco learns what it's like to actually be loved.
1. Satisfied

(Alternate Universe, pre-OotP)

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Diagon Ally, fall 1986

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"Father?" The little blond boy tugged on his father's cloak. "Father!" The bottom of the hard silver cane impacted with the six-year-old's bum and he jumped and shrieked in surprise.

He sniffled as the tall blond man hissed out of the corner of his mouth, "Do not embarrass me, Draco."

"Yes, Father," Draco whimpered, his hands rubbing the spot on his rear that stung.

He had tried to wait, honestly. But the girl looking at him while eating her ice cream might go at any minute and Draco wanted to talk to her.

A minute later, he again grasped the cloak pocket. "Father," he whispered instead.

The elegant man paused in his business dealings at the mouth of Knockturn Ally to glare at his son. He raised a smooth eyebrow and Draco whispered, "May I have an ice cream?"

"Insistent tot, ain't 'ee?" the crippled warlock sneered, leering at Draco. The boy pulled up the hood of his cloak to hide his face.

Lucius grew weary. "Silence, Draco," he snapped. "No." Then promptly turned back the conversation to his topic.

The tyke's grey eyes began to fill with tears as he gazed longingly at the girl. An older woman, presumably her mother joined her at the small, round table with a large sundae. The little brown-haired, brown-skinned girl turned away from him to talk to her companion.

Draco frowned.

His father wasn't looking. The leering wizard had forgotten he stood not two feet away. The blond-headed tot edged away from his bickering elders, toward the bright ice cream parlour in the centre of Diagon Ally.

The closer he stepped toward the girl, the more clearly punishment came to Draco's mind. Would it be whipping? No food?

But all thoughts flew out of his head as he sat at the empty table next to his destination.

"Celeste, darling," the woman was saying, "I'm so proud of you! First sign of magic and you helped repair that broken pot of Grandmamma's! I thought it could never be fixed. I am so pleased."

"Celeste." Draco whispered the name once more. A pretty name.

He glanced at the girl from under his hood. Her eyes were a pale blue -- a strange sight on such dark skin.

"Mummy, I don't know what happened..." she said quietly. ("The voice of an angel," Draco thought.)

"That's okay, darling," the woman replied quickly. "You will go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry when you turn eleven where you will learn all about magic!"

Celeste looked over her mother's shoulder. Draco started and looked away, realizing she had seen him staring.

When he glanced over his shoulder again, she was smiling softly, directly at him. He pushed back his hood a bit and smiled in return.

Draco stopped the instant her smile disappeared. Had he something on his face? When his hand reached up to swipe at his mouth, a heavy weight on his shoulder made him jump violently and jerk around.

A stern glare met his gaze and he gulped at the sight of his angry father. "Come, Draco," Lucius commanded silkily, noticing the two females at the next table were watching. "We are leaving."

Draco slid off the chair, the firm hand remaining on his shoulder, and marched beside his father all the way to the Portkey landing.

As he was forced to take hold of the pot handle, Draco saw a brief glimpse of Celeste as she disappeared into the ebbing crowd, and he wondered if their paths would ever cross again.

When he landed on the entryway floor of Malfoy Manor (he was still learning how to travel by Portkey), his father grabbed his arm and marched him upstairs. The six-year-old tripped on the stairs so often, Lucius fairly carried him by his left arm up to the second floor.

When they reached Draco's playroom, attracting the attention of Narcissa on the way, Lucius released his son, who again lost his balance and fell over.

"Stand up." The order was almost shouted.

"Lucius?" Narcissa appeared at the doorway. "What's--?"

"Not now," her husband barked, pushing her out of the room and shutting the heavy bolt. "Stand up, Draco!" he shouted. His son's legs shook as they supported his skinny frame.

"Why did you run away?"

Draco did not answer quick, and the sharp silver cane struck the side of his leg.

"Answer!"

Tears welled in his eyes.

"Malfoys do. not. cry. Crying is for Mudbloods who will never be like us. Are you a Mudblood? Are you going to cry?" Lucius taunted. Draco's face hardened and he answered no. His eyes took longer to dry than his pride.

"Why did you go to the shop when I told you no?"

"Be-because, a girl," Draco whispered.

"Hmm? What was that?"

"A girl was staring at me," he said louder.

Lucius frowned. "Malfoys do not become distracted. You will learn right now that you will not be distracted by things that are not pure. How do you know she was not a Mudblood, Draco? How?"

The boy paused. "I-I didn't think--"

"Of course you didn't." Lucius' condescending tone made his son even more resolved.

"And I was going over to tell her 'stop'," he lied. The lie was worth the effort as he made his father smile for a moment.

"I knew there must be some semblance of my son somewhere in you," the blond man said, tapping the serpent's head on the cane.

"For running away," he continued, "six strokes. But for a plausible cause, only four will be bestowed." Draco sighed and turned his back on his father.

The blows were quick and painful, but as his father swept out of the room without a hug or kiss, Draco went over to play with his toy wand, and all was forgotten.

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PLEASE REVIEW!!


	2. Silence

(Alternate Universe, post-Goblet of Fire)

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London Train Station's Platform 9 3/4, 1997

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The blond boy stood beside his father, still as stone. His mother had kissed him goodbye at home, resting from another pregnancy. The mediwitch who visited the home said to avoid another miscarriage by remaining in bed all day.

The Hogwarts Express's warning whistle shrieked and Draco looked up at his stoic father. Lucius hadn't spoken for ten minutes.

"Get on board, Draco," his father said quietly, not moving. His son was off to school without any prefect position, or Head Boy badge. An embarrassment.

He took a deep breath and said, "I will not embarrass you again, Father."

"Get on board the train." The repeated order was all the goodbye Draco received. He picked up the trunk and stepped on board the train without bothering to see if his father was watching. If he did look back, all he would see was proud parents waving goodbye to their offspring, offering advice for O.W.L.s exams, with no sight of a tall blond man carrying a silver cane anywhere.

Halfway down the train carriage, his haughty, holier-than-thou smirk planted firmly in place, a girl with black hair dashed out of a compartment and threw herself into his arms. The heavy trunk fell to the floor, blocking students following him that caused an uproar, and Draco struggled to peel the girl off his front.

"I've been waiting for you, Draco!" Pansy Parkinson said in his ear. She grabbed his hand and tried to drag him into the compartment, and Draco grabbed the trunk by three fingers. "Come in here." She slid the door open for him and waited for her companion to enter. Several fellow Slytherin classmates greeted the wealthy heir and returned to playing Exploding Snap.

Draco's two overfed laskeys nodded as he stowed away his belongings. They chewed noisily on a pack of chocolate frogs. Pansy kept patting his arm like a hyperactive cat pawing at a toy.

Pasty-faced Vincent Crabbe asked, after swallowing, "How was your summer, Draco?"

"Oh yes, how did--?" Pansy began. Draco glanced at her and she immediately shut up and stopped her nervous twittering. As if realizing where she was, Pansy looked around the compartment. Gregory Goyle, one of the other occupants of the compartment, moved to the other bench to let Pansy and Draco sit together.

The blond sat ridgedly, leaning his head against the wall behind him. Pansy gave a little huff and coaxed, "I must know how --?" Draco opened one eye to question her phrasing. "I mean, would you please tell about that meeting your father held last month?"

He closed the eye and shook his head. Several Death Eaters had gathered at Malfoy Manor to discuss his nearing initiation into the Dark Lord's growing army elite. But he wasn't about to tell that to two sixth years and Hsin Ji, a fellow seventh year who shared the Slytherin dormitory.

And he didn't speak until the express pulled out of the station.

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	3. Solitude

(Alternate Universe, post-Goblet of Fire)

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On the Hogwarts Express, 1997

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"Draco?"

The blond cracked an eyelid open as Pansy stared at him. "Darling, are you well?" she asked gently.

"Leave me alone." And the eye shut again.

"No!" The force behind her words startled Draco enough to open his eyes. Vincent and Gregory paused in playing and Hsin looked up from a large text. "I refuse to let you hole away!" she cried. Draco glared at her, volume and mean tone increasing with each word. "I hate this about you, how you run away from your problems! Talk to me, Draco. Tell me what is bothering you!"

The young Malfoy's eyes could burn ice as he stood swiftly and grasped Pansy's upper arm none too gently, dragging her out of the compartment and down the hallway to the baggage compartment. He shoved his betrothed inside and shut the door as he followed her between the stacks of trunks and cages.

With a feral look in his eyes, Draco grabbed one of her arms and smacked her across her face. "NEVER GIVE ME AN ORDER EVER AGAIN!!" he bellowed into her fast reddening face. Owls began squawking and shrieking from their cages. "YOU ARE A WOMAN WHO OBEYS ME, PANSY! IF YOU EVER BOSS ME AGAIN, YOU WILL EARN YOUR STRIPES!! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME??"

Pansy began to cry. "Understand me?" The blond commanded an answer in a deadly quiet tone.

"Yes," she sobbed. "I'm so sorry, Draco!" He released her arm and she leaned against a trunk, catching her breath. "Please forgive me, please?" Her hair was in disarray, a pink splotch spreading across her cheek, looking up at him with such regret and sorrow.

"Calm yourself, Pansy," Draco said tiredly, stretching out his arms to her. She hugged him tight, his fingers tangling in her dark locks. "You know I only want the best for you," he added by way of apology. When Pansy pulled away, her face was clear, but her eyes still were red-rimmed.

Gently, the boy pressed a kiss to her lips. When he pulled away, he said, "Go sit with your friends. It is our last year, after all. Mother has planned the binding for this summer, and I don't want you whinging about how you never see your friends anymore."

"I know," she replied. "And I don't whine!"

"You just were."

"You're just being obstinate!"

"Pansy...!"

"I'm sorry, darling." With another kiss, she vanished from the carriage. Draco heavily leaned against a nearby trunk. Pansy stuck her head back into the compartment, but when she saw his back was to her, she promptly forgot what she was going to say and instead left to begin searching for Millicent and Ursula.

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I'm not too happy with this chapter, but whatever. PLEASE REVIEW!


	4. Senseless

Slytherin Common Room, October 1997

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Draco surveyed the familiar chamber. He had seen the same four dungeon walls hundreds of times for seven years in a row, and every time they looked different. A glamoured black eye made the farthest wall seem wiggly and fuzzy. Drunkenness made the nearest wall look a hundred metres away while a hangover turned the silver into green. Sometimes after inhaling potion fumes, all the walls grew fur and danced for him.

His proud eyes glanced down his nose at the First Years as Pansy hung on his arm, brushing off one of her girlfriends. She followed him as he sat on a furnished sofa and removed the last of a chocolate frog from his cool pocket and unwrapped the smashed sweet. Without a word, he tore one of the legs off and handed the twitching limb to the girl, who bit her lip and took it, acknowledging the unspoken apology for the earlier abuse.

Slowly chewing on the slow-melting candy, Draco thought about how to tell her about what happened over the week his father had restricted him to the grounds of Malfoy Manor. When no owls were seen arriving or departing.

Looking anywhere but at the petite form leaning against his shoulder, he murmured to her, "I have been recruited to join the army of the Dark Lord."

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A/N -- Sucks and it's short, I know, but more chapters will be up!


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